The Anti-Defamation League is asking Michigan State University officials to reconsider inducting the longtime editor of what is considered the nation's largest Arab American community newspaper into their Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame, claiming the publication has been a "forum of hate."
"The fact that Osama Siblani consistently allows his publication to be a forum for hate should call into question his fitness for the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame," Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the organization, said in a statement Monday.
"The Arab American News has repeatedly published anti-Semitic diatribes and rhetoric and Mr. Siblani has publicly stated support and sympathy for terrorist organizations, including Hamas and Hezbollah."
Siblani, publisher and editor of the Dearborn-based weekly launched in 1984, is among five inductees set to be honored Sunday in East Lansing.
ADL officials last week sent a letter to the director of MSU's School of Journalism, seeking a review of Siblani's nomination.
Citing research the group gathered over the years, ADL said the Arab American News' English language section "frequently provides a forum for known anti-Semites, Holocaust deniers and anti-Semitic 9/11 conspiracy theorists such as Jeff Gates, an anti-Semitic author who propagates theories of Jewish control over the U.S., and Paul Craig Roberts, a syndicated columnist and Holocaust denier."
Heidi Budaj, Michigan regional director of ADL, said researchers also noted instances of what they perceived as biased or one-sided reporting.
Reached Monday, Siblani rejected the league's claims, saying he is not anti-Semitic and his newspaper does not promote hatred in its coverage.
| "How can I be an antisemite when Arabs are semites?" he added, disingenuously. |
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